Ten Years Later
by mermaidrain
Summary: This story takes place after Pirates of the Caribbean 3. What happens after the movie ends? What caused these characters to get to this point to have to deal with this? Told in 5 different points of view and a little bit of background.
1. Chapter 1

He had done her bidding for ten years and now the time had come for him to collect his heart's desire. She had promised to be his forever when she had lain in his arms and he had counted every day that had kept him away from her. Now he was back to claim that promise. It was suddenly sunset as he steered the ship into the bay where he had left her.

"Caly," he whispered, "I'm back." The anchors dropped and he could feel his heart racing with joy. This goddess of a woman was his.

He got in the rowboat alone and left the ship behind. With each dip of the oars, he could feel his heart beat out a rhythm that called her name.

When the boat ground to a slow halt on the sand, he jumped into the water and pulled it further ashore. She was nowhere to be seen. His heart skipped a beat, but he doubted only for a second. Then he remembered the cottage.

He ran down the beach and into the woods towards their lovers' nest. They had spent many sweet sunsets together there and he was looking forward to having her limbs tangled around him again. He noticed that there were no lights in the windows. His heart grew cold within his chest.

"Perhaps she's fallen asleep waiting for me," he said to the cool dusk air. When he burst through the door though, the truth lay before him as thick as the dust upon everything around him. His heart stopped and he felt as if he would die. She had betrayed him, his lovely Calypso. And he had been nothing but faithful to her, the first woman who could claim such a thing from him. He ran from the cottage back down the beach with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"No!" he screamed with rage into the night, "No!" His heart beat a rhythm that would call her name night after night after night and he couldn't bear it. He would not keep a heart that would belong to her, not after this. He pulled a knife from his belt and plunged it into his chest. He fell to his knees at the shock of pain, but the anger made a perfect anesthetic. He continued to carve his own flesh until he pulled the offensive instrument from his chest and felt it throbbing in his hand. He felt oddly distant from it as he examined it, but his rage sustained him, keeping his blood pumping furiously through his veins without it. He could live without his heart. He laughed wildly.

She had cursed him with her betrayal, but that curse was also a blessing. He would live forever now and she had given him power with his job that he would use against her. He would still collect the dead, but not to ferry them to the land where they belonged. Oh no. Now he would amass an army that he would use to make the name of Davy Jones strike fear in the hearts of sailors everywhere. No longer would her precious sea be a romantic setting, but a horrific bed of death. The heart beat on and he felt the pain beginning to return.

He frantically began to dig a hole right where he kneeled. He would bury it here for safe keeping, here at the very shore where she had betrayed him, here to honor the woman who had made him the creature he would become. He would come back later, put it in a better vessel for safe keeping, and make a map so that he could find it again easily if it became necessary. But right now he had better things to do. He had a pirate council to call.

She hadn't just whispered promises in his ears all those years ago. He laughed wildly again as he rowed back out to the ship. She had foolishly told him her secret weakness, and now he would use it against her. He would make her feel all the years of anguish she had meant for him.


	2. Chapter 2

She had told him ten years, but she had never been any good at keeping track of time. She never meant to hurt him, but she just couldn't stay put in one place for that long. It just wasn't in her nature. She was a sea goddess after all and her moods and whims were constantly changing.

She stood in the doorway of their cottage and looked at the disturbed dust at her feet. It was all she could see in the moonlight, but it told her enough. He had obviously been here and she had not. It had been weeks ago that she had realized that she had missed their appointment, but tonight something had called her to this spot.

The air felt thick with his anguish even now and she could feel the change in the sea air outside as sadness crept upon her. It was not in her character to feel remorse, but she had loved him.

"Oh Davy," she sighed and touched the locket at her neck. She stepped further into the cottage, the skirt of her seaweed dress dragging a trail through the dust behind her. She felt the urge to light a lantern. But as she reached out to touch the last place she had known a lantern to be, she felt a hand grab her wrist.

"Now!" someone screamed and then she heard the incantation that would paralyze her. She was stunned, but her fear had already called the rain clouds in. She felt ropes thrown around her as they tied her to a beam that supported the rafters above. This couldn't be happening. How had they known who she was or that she would be here, let alone the words to use to stun her?

And then suddenly a light shone in her eyes and blinded her. She blinked but she could not see the figures around her. From the sound of their voices she could tell that they were pirates and she guessed from the different accents and tones that there were nine here.

She felt panic rise up inside her and heard the waves start to slap at the distant shore as the mill wheel beside the cottage began to spin frantically. Nine? There were nine of them? How can this be? How did they know that it would take nine? She wanted to scream but her jaw was locked shut by the spell.

They gathered in a circle around her, each holding one of her bindings. One of them stepped up beside her holding a pan in front of her and stuck something in it as he leaned close enough toward her to whisper salaciously in her ear. She couldn't turn her head to look at him, to see his face, and that terrified her. The sky thundered loudly around them.

Then the next one took the pan and repeated the same process. Over and over they bound her with their words as strongly as the rope did and she could feel the change weaving its way through her skin. She raged silently against them. The storm broke and rain began to beat the cottage.

Tears silently poured down her cheeks as they permanently bound her into human form. How did they know how to do this to her? Who did they think they were? She was Calypso, goddess of the sea! Her rage boiled within the sky outside and the storm shook the cottage for all it was worth, but it was too late. It was already done and she could command the sky and the sea no longer.

"Tia Dalma," they named her in unison and she sagged against the ropes, no longer frozen. Someone turned the light back off and she felt the first beats of her now human heart. The rain and thunder suddenly stopped and the storm clouds began to roll away. She was powerless and she could not bear the loss. They quickly untied her and she fell to the floor, to land in a useless heap. It was one thing to take on the appearance of human form, and another thing altogether to have nothing but legs to stand on.

She cried helplessly as they silently walked out of the cottage one by one without ever letting her see their faces. She curled into a ball and sobbed. They had stolen her power for their own benefit and no matter how long it took she would find whoever was responsible for this and make them pay. She slapped the cottage floor with her open palm in anger.

She had been lying there for hours. She pushed herself up and forced herself to walk by supporting herself on the furniture inside the cottage. She would need to find a place to live, to shelter this fragile human form she now possessed. She couldn't live here as it would always remind her of this horrible night. She shuddered.

Then she remembered a bayou where the locals worshipped her. There was a house there at the opening of the river that had been abandoned. It was connected to the ocean and would be close enough to the open seas for her to bear living on land. She felt the sobs begin to bubble up inside her again and clapped a hand to her mouth.

She was a goddess, she reminded herself. It didn't matter what form she was in. She forced the sobs down and slowly removed her hand from her mouth. She laid it on her chest to try and calm her rapidly beating heart and once again felt the cold locket beneath her touch. Would Davy come to her rescue? She didn't dare to hope it, but she couldn't shake the idea. Perhaps he would. Perhaps he would forgive her when he heard what had happened to her.

She walked slowly and stiltingly out of the cottage and down the beach, hope blooming within her as she listened to the rhythm of her beating heart. And for just a moment as she walked down the beach she thought she heard the faint beating of another heart, as if she carried two heartbeats within her. She shook her head. Having a heart was going to take some getting used to.


	3. Chapter 3

She knew the rules and this time she was determined to follow them. Elizabeth may have been fond of breaking rules in the past, but this time she was damned if she would let them be broken. It was Will's life at stake here! She was determined to keep their appointment.

It had been ten years, ten very long years, but she would prove herself to be faithful to him no matter what. She walked towards the cliff's edge—the best spot to get a good view of the ship as it sailed into the bay. She had stayed on this island where he had left her, cleaning up an abandoned cottage, repairing the damage of a missing mill wheel, to make a home for herself and her son, Will's son. After only one day together she had managed to get pregnant.

It had been hard to live on land without ever once going to sea after she had developed a taste for the sea life, but it was only ten years. She could live on the same spot of land for ten years. Those were the rules of the curse. It had been even harder to be alone during her pregnancy and to raise their boy on her own, but every day she told their little boy stories of his father and the sea and the life they had once led. And she had taken him every day to this spot and trained him to keep an eye on the horizon for his father's ship. The boy ran ahead of her now in his eagerness, singing the song she had taught him years ago.

Every day had been a struggle without Will by her side. She had struggled to provide a home with a roof that didn't leak, to provide food for their child, to work as a woman in a man's world. She didn't have her father's money to pay for her place in the world anymore. She had to become both mother and father and take on the burdens of their daily life as if she were a widow. Part of her had resented Will for it. He got to roam the oceans of the world, while she was stuck with the responsibilities. Being faithful was no easy task, certainly not for ten years.

Those were the bad days and she had to remind herself that she wasn't angry at Will, she was angry at the curse. She had to remember why she was doing what she was doing: she loved him and that had to be enough. Every night she had opened the box that held his heart and listened to it beat. It had been the rhythm of her dreams. Though she could not have him, she still had his heart.

She joined the boy at the edge of the cliff. He looked up at her now with a question in his eyes and she smiled at him reassuringly. He had been so hopeful and eager all these years. He had been the one that had kept her going. When Will began to feel like a distant memory and she struggled to remember what she was doing this for, all she had to do was look in her son's face and see Will in his eyes.

Will didn't even know he had a son. There could be no communication between them when he was journeying to the land of the dead. This was another rule of the curse and Elizabeth was following every rule she was given. She could have sent someone else after him (they did still have the map after all), but what would be the point? He couldn't come back and he would desperately want to. Knowing Will, he would move heaven and earth, possibly making the curse permanent, to be there with her for their child. Why torment him with the knowledge?

But how would he react when he found out? Would he be grateful that she hadn't told him? Or would he hate her for it? He had missed so much of the boy's childhood already, but there would be more than enough time for them to spend together after today. It was almost sunset. It should be any moment now.

And just as suddenly as she had thought it, the sun had set and the ship was there. Then a flash of green spread across the horizon and she grinned in relief. She had done her job. She had passed the test. The curse had been broken and Will was free to come on shore and live a normal life with them. She could see him at the stern of the ship even from this distance and she felt her heart speed up.

Ten years was a very long time. Would he still recognize her? Would he still love her? Would he still want her? What if they couldn't even talk to each other any more? Every day she had been plagued with these fears and now that the moment was upon her they hit her with full force. ten years was a long time to forget. She wanted to smile and to wave, but her smile was frozen in place. Would they be able to make this work?

She had loved him with the passion of a young naïve girl once, but every day that love had grown and become something else. It had deepened and become more than she had ever dreamed possible, despite their distance. She had been faithful not because she had to, but because she wanted to. She had done it out of a love that could not be broken.

She smiled sincerely then. She had heard the beat of his heart every night and surely it beat true. And tonight, when they were finally alone, she would give it back to him and she would make it race again as it did that one glorious day in the sun. If he wanted it, she would give hers in exchange. For as surely as she had kept his heart with her, he had always had hers too.


	4. Chapter 4

Will stood at the stern of the ship and looked for Elizabeth on the shore. He could see her profile up above, standing at the top of the cliff. He knew it was her the instant his eyes touched her form.

It had been ten very long years, but he had known every day that his Elizabeth would see him through. He never doubted even once because he had known from the day he had first set eyes on her that she was the love of his life. He could love no one else.

He saw someone else standing with her, someone shorter and a frown momentarily creased his brow. Who was standing beside her? Perhaps it was an old friend come to greet him. He would find out soon enough.

He had done his job, ferried the dead to the land of forgetfulness and peace, and now he was done. He handed the ship's wheel to his father as he had decided to take over the duty, to live longer and keep in touch with Will. The Flying Dutchman was his now. They had spent the last ten years getting to know each other as they never had before, but now it was time to say goodbye to him at last. They simply looked at each other as words failed them both and then they hugged fiercely, slapping each other on the back briefly before parting.

Will got in the dinghy and rowed with all his might towards shore. He was home at last and she was waiting for him. When the boat ground to a halt on the sand he leaped out and pulled it further ashore. He saw an arrow drawn in the sand further up the shore out of the tide's reach pointing towards the woods and began to run as fast as he could. She had left him a treasure map and he was delighted to follow the trail.

He saw the lights in the windows of the cottage first, illuminating the dusk air from a distance, and recognized it instantly. He slowed down to a walk and had to laugh as he remembered the dance he had performed in the old mill wheel with Jack and Norrington that had been attached to the cottage at the time. They had been in search of another Captain's heart at the time and he smiled at the irony of it all. Their story had come full circle.

Then he saw the door to the cottage open and she was standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the firelight behind her. She was holding the chest. He came to a stop as his breath caught in his throat. He could feel his heart calling to him, almost as if it was beating in his body again already. He put a hand to his chest and almost cried with joy at the flood of emotion. Ten years was such a very long time.

He dropped his hand and began to slowly walk towards her. Her face began to take form before him in the dark. He stopped in front of her, soaking in the face that had been in his dreams every night. This was his wife. Her eyes looked up at him questioningly and her lips parted as if to ask him something, but before she could speak he quickly took her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a bit awkward with the chest between them, but he couldn't have waited any longer. He stopped and pulled his head back to get a good look at her face while still cradling her cheeks in his hands. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was smiling so widely he could hear the heartbeat in the box between them speed up.

Then he heard a cough from the room behind them. He looked around her into the cottage and saw a young boy standing in the middle of the room, watching them as if he was waiting. Oddly enough, the look in his eyes was one of worry as his lips began to tremble the longer Will looked at him. And suddenly he knew who the second form on the cliff had been.

"My son!" he gasped. He looked at Elizabeth and saw the same worry etched upon her face. "I have a son?" he asked her in wonder. She bit her lip and nodded. He slowly moved past her towards the boy and kneeled in front of him, grasping his shoulders as he searched the face before him. "I have a son," he whispered. The boy started to cry and he hugged him to his chest. "It's okay, boy," he said soothingly as he stroked the child's hair. He didn't even know his son's name. "What's your name?" he asked.

"William Jack Turner, sir," he sniffled. The boy clung to him and he picked him up and turned to face Elizabeth.

She was crying still, but she had a hand to her mouth, the chest tucked under one arm, and he couldn't tell whether they were happy tears or sad. She had carried their child all alone, and she had raised him all by herself without him being any the wiser. He felt guilt stab him in the gut. How could he have not known? He'd never dreamed that it was even possible. He felt a terrible sadness at the life he had missed, knowing exactly what it had been like to grow up without a father.

But he was here now and he would never leave them alone again. He motioned for Elizabeth to join them and she put the chest down on a table before flinging her arms around them both.

"I wanted to tell you," she said. He put a hand around the back of her head and pulled her toward him to kiss her forehead. He understood. She rested her head on his shoulder. The blasted curse had kept them apart for far too long and he had time to make up for. But he wasn't going anywhere. He was home. He rested his chin upon Elizabeth's neck. He had a home and a family. He marveled at it all and smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

Will Junior woke up as the sunlight began to stream through his window. And then he remembered. His dad was home! He jumped out of bed and ran to his mom's room, his parent's room now. He stopped at the door instead of bursting in like he wanted. His mom had taught him never to burst into her room as she might be changing and he was too old to do that any more. He heard a gasp and then a moan.

Mom must be just waking up too, he thought. He knocked on the door like he'd been taught and heard a groan from his dad and a smothered giggle from his mom.

"It's going to be hard to restrain myself after ten years," he heard Will grumble quietly behind the door. He heard the bed move and someone shuffle towards the door. The door opened a crack and his mom peeked out at him, holding her shift closed around her.

"It's a bit early yet, Will. Your dad wants to get a little more sleep. Why don't you go outside and play for a little while." She looked meaningfully at him and motioned with her head for him to go on.

He felt disappointed but he remembered the talk mom had with him the day before. She had explained that they would all need time with his dad to adjust to their new life together, but that mom and dad might need a little bit more quiet time together alone to discuss things. He nodded his head obediently and reluctantly turned away as she closed the door.

"You know, you're going to have to explain sex to him soon," he heard his mom say in low tones as he walked away. He couldn't catch what his dad said in response, but he heard his mom squeal loudly with laughter before the bed made a heavy noise as if she had been thrown upon it.

He got dressed and went outside to play, wondering just what sex was. He played with his wooden figures of pirates and soldiers by the creek. He was sure that his dad had a lot to teach him about sea life and pirates. He was so happy that he was home.

He had watched his mom a lot over the last few years and she had been very sad sometimes. But today she had never seemed happier, now that he was home. He smirked. And the other boys would stop making fun of him, calling him those horrible names and saying he didn't have a father at all. He'd told them, but they wouldn't believe him. He couldn't wait to show off his dad.

It had been a long time with just his mom and him. Not that he remembered a lot of it from when he was a baby, but he knew that they could be a family now. He picked up a wooden figure and put it at the helm of his toy ship. "Captain Will Turner," he said, "my dad." He smiled. His dad was home for keeps.

* * *

**These are not my characters. I simply borrowed them from the brilliant screenwriters for the length of this story.**


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